1. Map – Do I have a map?
People come to Christ through a process of change:
2. Strategy – How do we get there?
The cell group church believes in:
Community Evangelism
- The community an individual is in affects one’s decision. Therefore, it is crucial to provide the community to the individuals.
- Jesus did not just die for one individual , Jesus died for a church – a community of us!
Relationship Evangelism
- Oikos = you spend at least 1 accumulated hour per week with them on a one to one basis. Because nobody will be comfortable to trust and to follow a stranger (You, Jesus, etc.) recommended by another stranger.
- PERFECT 10 PRAYER STRATEGY = People engaged regularly for effective community transformation, Zechariah 8:23
Servant Evangelism
- H E A R T evangelism = when I serve (a need), I touch hearts.
- Steve Sjogren, 1993, Conspiracy of kindness – “If the heart is the centre of focus of man’s personal life, the spring of all his desires, why not we aim for the heart right at the beginning? … The exciting thing is that the heart is not unreachable … People’s hearts are most easily touched by acts of kindness.”
- Show God’s love in a practical way, with no strings attached.
- DO IT CONSISTENTLY, because you really love, because God first loved you.
- If not, come on, then you ARE doing it with strings attached.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Session 9: Paradigm Shift -> How to do evangelism? (PART 1) (Ps Lawrence Khong)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Session 8: Key to multiplication -> Power of Group Evangelism (Ps Lawrence Khong)
Key to multiplication
- NOT to just find 12
- but to find 144 = train up spiritual fathers / harvesters!
Best group dynamics?
- Socio-scientifically proven that a group with self-generating GROUP DYNAMICS = magical group of 8!
Body/ group evangelism
- Forming a family and community
- Much more effective than one-to-one!
- When a few groups come together, the stronger leaders can also support the weaker ones!
- Results in increased excitement! Woo hoo!
Session 7: Reaching For the Stars (Ps Claudia Castellanos)
Matthew 2:10 “When they see the star, they were filled with exceedingly great joy.”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Psalm 51:9-10 “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
How to hear God? How to desire what He wants for you?
- Until you surrender your natural/logical mind to the cross, you’ll never get to hear God!
- If it’s your own natural mind and not God’s, your motivation will be your own, not God’s!
- Romans 12:1 “…you have to surrender your minds to the altar…!”
- Tell the Lord, "Give me a heart that can hear You!"
What do you do when you do God’s work?
- When you can hear God, you can speak God’s words to people and help them!
- The 3 wise men brought gold, myrrh, wisdom = offering, moments of tribulation, our talents
- Let yourself hear God + be used by God = Be a shining star for God to everyone!
What’s your star?
What’s in you?
Follow after your star and you will SHINE, to bring glory, praise and salvation to the house of the Lord.
Session 6: Life Through the Spirit, Live In the Spirit (Sarah Castellanos)
Moving in the spirit = to die to your own desires
3 things the Holy Spirit give us:
1. Purpose
2. Strength
3. (eh, not mentioned?)
Romans 8:9-10 “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
When you go through hard times, just rest in God -> then you’ll see the miracle.
Rest in God = trust Jesus = knowing He has everything under control!
You might feel discouraged and feel like giving up = this is normal! However, you should NOT really give up! Press on NOT depending on your own strength but on God's strength.
3 issues that prevent us from going in the Spirit and doing God’s work:
1. Thinking that God will use someone else better, not me!
2. Thinking that God will never use me given that I am nothing at all!
3. Using my own strength instead of depending / resting in God!
Know that God’s love and blood NEVER FAILS, because IT IS DONE at the cross…
Session 5: Not Just Pure Blessings, Those Who Can Do It Really Do Have Skills! (Ps Lawrence Khong)
The Cell Group Agenda
1. To love one another (part 1)
Inside cells we must minister (EDIFY)
- That we see God’s answered prayers
2. To love one another (part 2)
Outside cells we must multiply (EVANGELISE)
- If not we’ll just keep focusing on our own problems, or worse, we start focusing on others' problems i.e. gossiping!
3. To train each other to love
Cells must mobilise (EQUIP)
There are 3 levels of learning:
a. Cognitive (Knowledge) - you have to KNOW HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO WORK
b. Psychomotor (Skills) - you have to KNOW HOW TO DO IT
c. Affective (Values) - your heart has to be transformed and WANT TO DO IT!
You impart it not by sending people to class. You need to create a culture in the cell that everyone in the cell does it! Then when new people join, they see that it is the only value/option that everyone does, therefore they will do the same too!
John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Reason for cell gatherings
MINISTRY AND EDIFICATION must be the explicit, main reason of cell group
Session 4: When I Change, Everything will Change (Ps Cesar Castellanos)
TREND:
A rejected/wounded soul -> has a BRAND MARK on them -> attracts other rejected/wounded souls!
SOLUTION:
Jesus was rejected too and He overcame the cross, so that you too can break free from this trend/mark/past of rejections! What do you have to do? REMOVE THE OLD, TAKE IN THE NEW. Not to integrate with the old, but to totally REMOVE THEM ALL.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made Him who has no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
When you worry, start with TRUSTING GOD and His power over all things, and not whether you have the resources to solve the problem.
When God made Adam, He made him a king of the world. Yet when Adam fell, he lost his kingship, he lost his crown. The ground was cursed, and the curse is represented by thorns and thistles.
Therefore, when Jesus wears the crown of thorns and thistles, Jesus’ blood that flowed washed away the curse. BELIEVE, CLAIM AND DECLARE that power in the blood of Jesus! The power of conquest.
Isaiah 54:2 - God will enlarge your territory if you believe you can do it. YOU MUST WANT THAT SUCCESS. Arise!
How much time do you need to be a man or women of God to create an impact on your nation?
It is not a matter of time, it is a matter of WHETHER YOU BELIEVE. Because when you believe, God's anointing and power will be with you. YOU CAN OVERCOME!!!
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Session 3: The Paradigm Shift to the G12 Cell Church (Ps Lawrence Khong)
Understanding the cell church structure:
1. A church with cell and a cell church are DIFFERENT!
- Traditional church - Cell ministry is a only a department, just an option
- Cell church - Cell IS the church
2. Cell church
- Acts 2:46-47
- The church is in the lives of the community, not just a ‘Sunday thing’
- Hence, nothing competes with the Cell
- All resources will support the Cell, not activities that will take people away from the Cell
- It is a Vision-driven movement, not just another programme
There are 2 kinds of small groups in the G12 cell church:-
1. Open cell
- EVANGELISM we need to be outward-looking, if not we’ll keep hubbing on our same problems
- EDIFICATION 1 Corinthians 14: when the people in the bible see people having their cell group,
they said “…surely God is among you”
- EQUIPPING
2. G12 cell
- 12 open cell leaders
- A closed group
- Train disciple-makers
- Supports network pastors
Cells celebrate together under a vision.
Nature of the church cell:-
| Community | Corporation | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| Brothers/ Sisters | Workers | Soldiers |
| Family | Business | Military |
| People matters | Process matters (the strategy diligently implemented to partner the vision and passion) | Purpose matters |
Session 2: The Salvation and Power at the Cross (Ps Cesar Castellanos)
1 Peter 2:1-2 “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…”
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 “So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.”
Adam, having sinned, fell from his position of inheritance and received the curse for all the generations that come after him.
Jesus is the last Adam; He took the curse upon Himself
Isaiah 53:6-8 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away…”
If we come to cavalry, we can find redemption.
There is power in the blood of Jesus
Problem: WE ARE OUR OWN PROBLEM, YOU MUST DIE TO YOURSELF.
Solution: THE CROSS IS THE SOLUTION, ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Hebrews 9:12 “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Session 1: The G12 Vision (Ps Lawrence Khong)
3 Promises
1. Gladness in our hearts - delight
2. Growth in our ministry - development
3. Global impact - destiny
3 Major Challenges
1. The need for inter-dependence - the lack of community
- FRAGMENTATIONS AND POSSESSIVENESS because each ‘family’ operates on their own
2. The need for skill training - the lack of competence
- UNPREPARED TO LEAD cell groups as we do not have the skills despite having passion
3. The need for integration - the lack of convergence
- NOT HAVING A COMMON GOAL ie to win the nations together
Vision for Transformation (2000 - 2015)
“To serve the Nations by effecting Community Transformation in Singapore and Gateway Cities in Asia.”
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save THAT which was lost.”
What was lost?
1. Our relationship with God - eg Adam and Eve cast out of the garden of Eden
2. Our relationship with each other - eg Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel
3. Our relationship with the marketplace - eg the ground was cursed
Luke 19:10 “Today salvation has come to this HOUSE.”
Context of this verse = the salvation of Zacheus because HOUSE = HOME + MARKETPLACE.
The 3 Dimensions of Marketplace
1. Personal
2. Inter-personal
3. Marketplace
Colossians 1:19-20 “For it was the Father’s good pleasure… to reconcile ALL THINGS…”
Ephesians 1:7-10 “…that He might gather together in one ALL THINGS in Christ, both in heaven and on earth…”
We WILL NOT GIVE UP any area that has been taken away.
G12 Conference 2009 Sessions Summary
Some of you might have missed the G12 Conference for some reason or another. Thanks to Mary-had-a-little-lamb Yeo, we are able to bring you summary notes from each session. If you missed any of the sessions, I pray God will still speak to you through these notes. If you were there throughout, I pray too that the notes will remind and impress upon your heart again the things God was speaking to you about, so that you might live your life differently today. May you be committed to a life of transformation every day.
Cheers,
Joshua
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